Bubblegum writes lessons in Hakata-ben at your level, and we found no other app that does. Apps for standard Japanese teach the kanji and grammar that Fukuoka speech is built on. Reading and listening to Japanese that is just easy enough to follow is called comprehensible input. When it starts to feel easy, Fukuoka's own TV clips and podcasts in the table below let you hear how people there really talk.
On a crowded bus, someone pointing at the empty seat next to you and asking とっとーと？ wants to know if you're saving it, and the scene makes that clear. For tutors, see our Fukuoka Japanese guide, and for common words, our Hakata-ben phrase list.
Custom Lessons Made for You
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Fukuoka Japanese. You learn from Fukuoka Japanese you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes your lessons about what you choose, like the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival or a walk around Ohori Park, with the characters talking the way people do in Fukuoka. When a line stops you, Poppy can explain how its ending differs from standard Japanese.
The trade-off is that Bubblegum can't give you a real person to chat with in Hakata-ben. Some italki tutors from Fukuoka teach Hakata-ben, and our Fukuoka Japanese guide lists them.
- Lessons, news, and stories with Hakata-ben in the dialogue and the narration.
- Small kana above each kanji show you how to read it.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, so you read them again in new contexts.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- A clip or manga you found yourself won't open in it.
- A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn.
- Regenerative Review™
- Teaches Fukuoka speech
Mobile
Read and Watch Graded Japanese
Satori Reader
Tap any sentence to hear it, and open the gray-underlined notes for the hard parts. Read in standard Japanese here, then listen for how Fukuoka speech changes the endings.
- More than 1,200 episodes written for learners, read by voice actors.
- The text shows kanji you know and adds readings to the ones you don't.
- Flashcards
- Standard Japanese, not Fukuoka speech
MobileWeb
Natural Japanese
Start here if you'd like to hear a lot of Japanese before you read much of it.
- Teachers explain things in simple Japanese, with videos for complete beginners up to advanced learners.
- A score on each video tells you how hard it is.
- Standard Japanese, not Fukuoka speech
Web
Read and Watch Japanese You Choose
LingQ
Fukuoka City's skits in the table below run under four minutes each, which makes them good first imports.
- Bring in a YouTube video or a podcast, and read its transcript while it plays.
- Flashcards
- Standard Japanese, not Fukuoka speech
MobileWeb
Watch Videos With Subtitle Help
Many Fukuoka clips on YouTube, the city's skits included, have only the Japanese subtitles that YouTube makes on its own, and some have none at all. A tool that lets you pause and replay a line helps.
Language Reactor
Try it first on the CBC news clip in the table below, where one story is read in standard Japanese and then in Hakata-ben.
- Show Japanese and English subtitles together on YouTube and Netflix.
- Replay one line as many times as you need.
Browser extension
Migaku
On a computer, its Chrome extension also works on Netflix, Disney+, and Viki.
- On your phone, it works with YouTube.
- It rates how hard a video will be for you, based on the words you know.
- Flashcards
MobileBrowser extension
Listen to Hakata-ben for Free
The YouTube clips and podcasts cost nothing. What Crunchyroll shows depends on your country, so check its page before you plan around an anime.
| What | Why It Helps | Try It When |
|---|---|---|
| 方言ニュース | A Fukuoka-born announcer reads one news story in standard Japanese, then in Hakata-ben (the second half is in Nagoya dialect) | You're just starting |
| 使うてみんしゃい博多弁 | Fukuoka City's short skits, each built around a word or two | Simple scenes feel easy |
| 博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？ | A four-panel manga with furigana, where the heroine talks in Hakata-ben. Some episodes are free | You read short scenes |
| Muromi-san | Twelve-minute comedy episodes about a mermaid who speaks Hakata-ben | Casual talk feels easy |
| RINAJYO's calls with her grandmother | Phone calls between a woman born in Hakata and her grandmother | You follow everyday chat |
| アサデス。ポスト | KBC asks children and adults in Fukuoka about a famous Hakata phrase | You can follow interviews |
| ドォーモ×ラジオ | Fast free talk from a KBC show with a long history in Fukuoka | You follow fast talk |
| 博多のおと | Women from a Hakata heritage group talk about local customs in older Hakata-ben | You want the hardest listening |
Other Apps We Looked At (6)
- 博多弁 (Japan ICT Learning)Listening practice and flashcards in Hakata-ben, made for students and trainees who are new to Fukuoka.
- KBC アナちゃんねる: 博多弁をしゃべろう！A KBC announcer who has lived in Hakata for decades teaches Hakata-ben to younger announcers, including one from Kansai.
- ばりやわとんこつShort romance dramas in Hakata-ben, played by an actress from Fukuoka.
- 福岡ドットコムShort dramas in Hakata-ben on YouTube.
- ラジオドラマ・シアワセの高取家RKB radio's five-minute weekday drama about a family in Fukuoka City.
- 福岡市「やさしい日本語」ラジオ講座Slow, easy standard Japanese about life in Japan, from Fukuoka City and LOVE FM.
Common Questions
Which Fukuoka Japanese app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Fukuoka Japanese, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Natural Japanese's videos for complete beginners if you want standard Japanese first.
Is there anything to read in Hakata-ben?
Yes. The manga 博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？ runs to four volumes, and the classic 博多っ子純情 (1976 to 1983) has all its dialogue in Hakata-ben across 375 chapters.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Hakata dialect
- Japanese Wikipedia: 博多弁 (とっとーと)
- Satori Reader on the App Store
- Natural Japanese
- LingQ: Learn Japanese
- LingQ: free and premium plans
- Language Reactor on the Chrome Web Store
- Migaku: features FAQ (YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Viki)
- Migaku on the App Store (paid subscription)
- CBC: 方言ニュース, the same news in standard Japanese and Hakata-ben
- Fukuoka City: 使うてみんしゃい博多弁, episode 1
- KBC: アナちゃんねる 博多弁をしゃべろう！
- Champion Cross: 博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？
- Natively: 博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？ (full furigana)
- Crunchyroll: Muromi-san
- 博多のRINAJYOちゃんねる: おばあちゃんと孫の会話 #15
- KBC NEWS: アサデス。ポスト (street interviews about a Hakata phrase)
- KBC RADIO: ドォーモ×ラジオのPodcast
- Nishinippon Shimbun: 博多のおと
- Japanese Wikipedia: 博多っ子純情 (375 chapters, dialogue in Hakata-ben)
- 博多弁 (Japan ICT Learning) on the App Store
- Bubblegum
- Satori Reader
Checked on October 15, 2026 against each app's own pages.
